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In each sequence, he would take the same subject, and paint it repeatedly in the same format, using the same colours and technique. With each subsequent painting, the image would become more abstract as pure representation ceased to be the goal and a more subconscious, instinctive bond was formed with the subject.
The effect was compelling. In some paintings, it felt as if first the hair, then the skin and finally the flesh had been stripped away, leaving an almost skull-like shape that in turn began to decay and fade. In others, the mind and body became dislocated from one another, beheading the subject. Then as the head began to dominate the two parts, the body dissolved into a merest wisp of paint. In others the geometry distorted and shapes inverted as the sense of a real physical world slowly disintegrated.
The paintings were displayed in vast sequences hanging on free-standing trapezes suspended from the cavernous roof of the Combustion Chamber. The entire chamber was blacked out, with the only illumination coming from powerful spotlights focussed on the paintings. This dramatic lighting gave the impression that the paintings were simply floating in space, disconnected from the physical world around them.
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